Drew McIntyre holds court from The PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA, home to this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw on 3/11/19.
The Shield is out and the crowd is wild. After coming off a great six man tag team match victory at Fastlane last night in their “final” ride, they are here tonight.
Roman Reigns says that it’s been five months since he’s seen singles action. He’ll compete tonight. Ambrose will be doing Ambrose things according to Reigns, and Rollins is prepared to “slay the beast” and the crowd will chant for him to “burn it down”.
This brings out Paul Heyman, the “Advocate” for the beast, who has a good back and forth with Rollins. Rollins gives it back, especially in reference to Lesnar struggling against agile talent. Heyman corrects him by stating every case about Lesnar having only a short time to prepare for those main event changes. He then introduces a highlight video of Lesnar’s greatest moments.
After the video package, we get a bit of history as Rollins is blinsided by the incredibly underrated Shelton Benjamin.
The “Gold Standard”, and former teammate of Brock Lesnar with the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, hits several german suplexes on Rollins, leaving him laying. It’ll probably lead to singles action tonight, but great to see the under-utilized Smackdown talent, now apparently, on Raw.
That singles action immediately begins after the break, so here we go.
Seth Rollins defeats Shelton Benjamin via pin fall with a Blackout.
I’ll just say it. Benjamin has still got it and he and Rollins got Pittsburgh fans on their feet quite quickly. Benjamin dodges an early Blackout attempt, taking Rollins the mat after a jarring knee.
Benjamin took Rollins to the limit to open the broadcast, and Rollins is clearly on the road to Wrestlemania. He wasn’t derailed after escaping an F-5 attempt, as he quickly hit a superkick and then the Blackout in succession to get a victory this evening.
Finn Balor heads to the ring and as he readies for his IC Title match, Bobby Lashley stares a hole through him and has words via the Titan-tron. Their match is up next.
Bobby Lashley defeats Finn Balor via pin fall with a spear to win the IC Title.
Blaor was rolling on all cylinders, and as usual, he and Lashley had a quality match. Balor hit the corner dropkick and was headed up to the “drop zone” as the bell sounded.
Thinking it was preemptive, we look over to see Lio Rush with a unique distraction and he says Balor doesn’t deserve to be the champ. Balor knocks Rush off the apron and takes flight, but Lashley catches him with a spear to regain the title.
Interesting choice of things to do here, I think it’s safe to assume that Balor has to be headed to Smackdown after ‘Mania, specifically because it makes little sense to take the strap off him before ‘Mania, but we shall see.
Ronda Rousey comes out and comes a killer heel pro about the Carney side show that is WWE and the women’s division. She completely dismisses the fans, Becky Lynch and Charlotte and prepares to take her leave, but here comes the hero we all deserve, Dana Brooke.
Brooke basically says she’s a nobody, but she respects the fed and the women in it. Rousey responds by destroying her. She boots her in the gut and hits two judo throws on the floor before almost killing her with a botched Piper’s Pit. She prepares for the armbar, but then tells the fans that they need to pay sixty bucks to see it.
She then obliterates a ref and leaves. This was awesome.
We get a recap of Batista’s attack on Ric Flair a few weeks back and it sets up the confrontation with Triple H later tonight.
Aleister Black and Ricochet defeat Bobby Roode and Chad Gable via pin fall after a Black Mass on Roode.
Black and Ricochet continue to roll, even after not getting the titles last night at Fastlane. Gable and Roode looked good in this, taking Black down early in the match, but after a hot tag, Ricochet clears the ring and he tags Black back in.
Aleister nails a picture perfect Black Mass on Roode and that’s all she wrote.
The Revival attack them atop the ramp after the match and we look to have our Raw tag team title match at ‘Mania and I am a-okay with that. Hopefully they get plenty of time to shine. That should be a fantastic bout.
“A Moment Of Bliss” reveals the goddess as the host of Wrestemania this year after a little bit of fanfare. That was pretty funny. She’ll do a great job.
Braun Strowman is backstage and he’s asked about his run-in with Colin Jost and Michael Che last week. Jost sends him a car as a peace offering before running him down via a note and a lackey, Strowman does what he does best and he destroys the car.
From the main event to a mockery, it’s sad in actuality, but I suppose this is what he’s doing at ‘Mania this year. Hopefully a change of scenery and a draft to Smackdown will help him in April as it will with Balor. We shall see.
We “walk with Elias” in his hometown and he runs down the city and it’s people before telling us that he told Antonio Brown to leave down for the silver and black. That was fantastic. No Way Jose then heads to the ring and he and the conga line get destroyed on the ramp. Jose now has green hair, it doesn’t matter as he eats Drift Away.
We see a video package for the latest hall of fame inductees, the legendary Harlem Heat. I am very excited for Booker T. and Stevie Ray. They were exceptional in WCW.
Nia Jax stares down Lacey Evans who does her walk and “walk” thing, she is going to enjoy singles action with Natalya next. They recap Tamina and Jax’s attack on Beth Phoenix and Natalya last night and Phoenix is here tonight to watch Natalya’s back. That might be a fun match early on at ‘Mania.
Nia Jax defeats Natalya via DQ after interference from Beth Phoenix.
This wasn’t as much of a match as it was an angle. As I referenced earlier, that tag match will be happening. Jax was attacked quite quickly and Phoenix looked good. She can still go and that might be fun.
A car pulls up and “The Animal” Batista steps out to a chorus of boos. He will confront Triple H and that is next.
Triple H makes his way to the ring and Batista follows shortly thereafter. Even in full heel mode, he gets a massive reaction. He is custom from head to toe and still the freshest dressed dude in the business.
Batista has personal security with him and he says they are here for his protection. He wants to do things on his terms, and Hunter knows what he wants. Trips says he’s not gonna give Dave a damn thing. How many times has he quit the company? He is entitled because he’s a big movie star now.
Since he’s too big of a coward to face him and he’ll walk up the ramp and tear his way through the “Guardians of the Independent Scene” or whatever they are, which the crowd loved. Batista says by the time he does that, he’ll be long gone. He quit because he wanted to get away from Trips because he held him down, and ignored him.
He’s been asking for this match for years. He’ll get it or he’ll continue to hurt people that Hunter loves. They continue for a few more minutes, and Batista says he doesn’t want to give him what he wants because he’s not in control. He wants Triple H at ‘Mania. Triple H finally gives in and we’ve got a match. A match that is probably going to be a very good one.
Batista thanks him and says it’s one last match to end his career of his terms and a match to end Hunter’s career on his terms. Batista turns to leave and Hunter says, before he goes, the match itself, will be on Hunter’s terms. It’s a no holds barred match! Wow, that’s gonna be terrific!
Kurt Angle will head to the ring to address his future after the break. As with Graves, Elias and others, Pittsburgh is Angle’s hometown.
As expected, Angle states that at Wrestlemania, he will compete in his farewell match. He gives a very passionate speech and gives a rousing “Thank You Kurt” chant. He also states that he wants one last match is his hometown as well. Apollo Crews heads up to give him that honor and they’ll compete next.
Kurt Angle defeats Apollo Crews via pin fall with the Angle Slam.
Crews gaves Angle a great match and the hall of famer puts him away after a short contest with the Angle Slam before showing a bit of sportsmanship by celebrating his match with Crews.
He gets a standing ovation before a fond farewell from his beloved fans.
We see the “Big Dog” Roman Reigns gearing up for singles action up next where he’ll take on Baron Corbin.
Reigns is headed to the ring for his match, but before he can even get ready for the match, he is assaulted by Drew McIntyre who brutally assaults him. This was a rumored Wrestlemania match and all signs seem to be pointing in that direction. McIntyre continues the assault, but Reigns briefly fights back before he eats a Claymore Kick.
Reigns is dazed and out of it on the floor as McIntyre implores Roman to “fight for him”. Reigns is up and he eats another Claymore, leaving him wounded and out of it on the arena floor. McIntyre promises that this is just the beginning. Doctors are out with smelling salts as Reigns slowly comes to his feet, but he is feeling the effects of the attack.
Seth Rollins heads down to the ring to check on Reigns, before escorting his brother up the ramp as they head to a commercial break. I thought that was the main event. We’ll see what happens next.
Reigns is tended too by a doctor as Dean Ambrose approaches Triple H backstage and pleads for a Falls Count Anywhere match against McIntyre. Hunter grants it and we have our main event.
Drew McIntyre defeats Dean Ambrose via pin fall in a Falls Count Anywhere match with a Claymore Kick.
This was hard-hitting, this was brutal and this was a quality main event and hopefully the “arrival” of McIntyre to the next level. These two men beat the hell out of each other and if this is how Ambrose is putting people over on the way out, then I applaud him.
Ambrose used a low blow on several occasions and at one point, Ambrose stuck Ambrise with a pencil, that was insane. McIntyre law-darted Ambrose into the video wall twice and then trapped him a set of stairs where he hit the Claymore for the pin fall.
As the show was ending, Ambrose pleaded for more and he got another Claymore Kick. Reigns and McIntyre at ‘Mania? Sign me up. This was terrific and a great way to make you question the match result even if it does cry out for a Reigns victory. McIntyre needs to be world champion this year, he deserves it.
